Endometriotic lesions express microRNAs that potentially regulate the transcription of hydroxysteroid 17-beta dehydrogenase 2 (HSD17B2): a pilot study

Larissa Milani Coutinho, Caterina Bernacchioni, Maíra Casalechi, Silvia Vannuccin, A.M.C. Francisco, Felice Petraglia, Fernando M. Reis
In: Journal of Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders · 2024 · vol. 8 , pp. 100093 · doi:10.1016/j.jeud.2024.100093 · W4402435837
article OA: diamond CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This pilot study found that microRNAs miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p, which target HSD17B2, were not elevated in endometriotic lesions compared to eutopic endometrium.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

• Endometriosis is fueled by local estradiol accumulation that might be due to deficient HSD17B2 activity. • The microRNAs miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p target the HSD17B2 gene. • This study measured miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p in endometriotic lesions. • Levels were not higher (tended to lower) in the lesions compared to eutopic endometrium. • The regulation of HSD17B2 expression in endometriosis may be more complex than firstly assumed. Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease. A theory of deficient HSD17B2 activity in endometriotic lesions leading to high local levels of estradiol has been described as a potential molecular mechanism for the disease progression. However, HSD17B2 mRNA is normally expressed in endometriotic tissue, leading us to question whether an excess of microRNAS (miRNAs) could be involved in post-transcriptional silencing of HSD17B2 . This was a prospective, cross-sectional, pilot study. The study included seven samples of superficial peritoneal endometriosis and 22 samples of eutopic endometrium from 22 reproductive-aged patients submitted to laparoscopy for symptomatic endometriosis. We searched in an experimentally validated microRNA-target interaction online database (miRTarBase) for miRNAs that target the HSD17B2 gene and performed RT-PCR to evaluate their expression in endometriotic lesions and eutopic endometrium. We found two miRNAs on the miRTarBase search that interact with HSD17B2 : miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p. RT-PCR analysis showed that both miRNAs were expressed in ectopic tissues as well as in eutopic endometrium. Quantitatively, no significant difference existed between the two tissue groups in either miR-26b-5p (p = 0.08) or miR-124-3p (p = 0.09) expression levels, although the observed trend was towards lower levels of both miRNAs in the endometriotic lesions. The expression of miRNAs miR-26b-5p and miR-124-3p is not increased in peritoneal endometriosis compared to eutopic endometrium. The regulation of HSD17B2 expression may be more complex than assumed, and it must be further investigated in different clinical scenarios.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (25)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK